Bangladeshi cabbie declared guilty of rape in Sydney

Sydney, Sept.17 : A taxi driver of Bangladeshi origin has been found guilty of raping an 18-year-old woman in his taxi while she was on her way home after a night out with friends.

A Sydney Morning Herald report today said that 23-year-old Mohammad Kowsar Ali was declared guilty by a jury of nine men and three women after deliberations lasting two hours and ten minutes.

According to the report, the girl, who was a virgin, was only identified as Jay and had recently moved to Sydney.

At the time of the attack, "Jay" believed she was gay. She had spent a night out at the Flinders Hotel in Darlinghurst with girlfriends and had travelled home alone to Oyster Bay at 12.30 a.m. on Sunday, November 4, last year.

The court has heard that she was in a drunken state when she caught a taxi home and at times dozed off.

Ali, a part-time Combined Taxi driver who had come to live in Australia from Bangladesh to study accountancy, told police the intercourse that took place in the back seat of his cab that rainy morning was consensual.

Ali was arrested near Hurstville Railway Station 15 minutes after a weeping and distraught Jay phoned the triple-0 emergency line.

She initially told police that he had only touched her on the groin and right breast with her consent.

The jury convicted him of two counts of indecently assaulting her but acquitted him of having robbed her of 100 dollars.

Ali sat impassively as the verdict was read to Judge Peter Berman. He will be sentenced on November 21.

Jay emerged from the court today expressing her relief that other women would not be harmed.